Secondly, someone wrote me an e-mail telling me there was stuff in the comments section recently saying I should take PayPal donations. I've stopped reading the comments section. It's too depressing and troll-dominated for me. But anyway, I wasn't belly-achin' that I need cash. I was trying to point out that when you go to a Zen place (any Zen place, not just mine) the stuff costs money. Pay up.

And speaking of stuff that costs money, I'm pimping a little for the Maezumi Institute Young Buddhists Retreat at which I'll be appearing August 28-31. It costs $200, which does not include lodging, but does include musical performances, talks, workshops, meals and other stuff (follow the link above for details). This is the first time I've ever participated in this kind of Buddhist event (I don't consider sesshins to be events). I'm very curious to see how it goes. $200 is comparable to a ticket to Burning Man or Coachella or Bonaroo or what have you. I think Burning Man is less per day. But it's still a substantial fee to ask for from the 18-34 year old audience they're trying to attract.

For my part, at the Young Buddhists Retreat I'm just gonna do what it is I do. If I'm to speak before an audience I'll be entertaining the way I am at a college or someplace like that. But since they're billing it as a Buddhist retreat, I'm gonna be as Buddhist retreat-y as I can be under the circumstances and hope it isn't too much like a rave or something. We shall see. In any case, I do expect it to at least be fun. Fun is OK by me.

Speaking of fun, I'm at the San Diego Comic Con this weekend on behalf of the people who pay my rent. That's fun. I won't be at Zazen at Hill St. Center this Saturday. But it's still happening. Last I heard they were still deciding if it'd be a one-day zazen fest or a regular day. If you want to know, write me & I'll forward the message.

I'll also be at the Great Sky Zen Sesshin at Hokyoji Monastery in Minnesota August 9-16. But I'm pretty sure they're already fully booked up. I don't know, tho, so if you're considering going please check with them. This is a traditional style sesshin and probably won't be near as fun as the Young Buddhists Retreat.

I don't see how there'd be any harm in setting up a paypal account to take donations from. It just gives people an option. You don't have to even ask people to donate through it, just put a button in case anyone wants to.

I guess if the people who read this blog really wanted to help you out with hill street center costs, they wouldn't need PAYPAL to to it. They would just send an anonymous money order to the center. I don't think many people really want to do that though. They just want to feel gernerous without having to part with the bucks..

And he, like so many others, is facing economic uncertainty. That is not too difficult to understand. At 60, a retirement and an annuity kicked in so I can really kick back. My meager stipend is no longer stretched. Shelter, food, clothing, medical insurance, and dental are all covered.

Brad isn't in that place. Brad is finding his way and all the bullshit in this comments section - including MY bullshit is just an unnecessary burden.

mysterion, once i was as pissed at you for wasting time as i now am at z0tl. i guess we could wish this was more of an uplifting blog. but it is what it is. i think brad really set the tone here. he got the blog he deserves. And, z0tl is also finding his way. i can't help but like him.

This comments section was far more "meaty" than a lot of Brad's posts. It's like the words between the punctuation of his advertisements...er articles.

He tells everyone in one post that you gotta face everything not only what you like but now he only wants the "fun" stuff.

Off topic. Blog title is Hardcore Zen-not much of either Zen or Hardcore any more beyond shilling for gigs and other people's events(Comic Con, retreats, garage sales)

If his sits don't bring the cash why out those folks so publicly. Why not take it up with them at the sits? Tasteless and unnecessary.

This onerous "burden" of off-hand comments. With a couple of clicks Brad can flush this whole blog so where's the burden?

Tough economic times wouldn't be so tough if people weren't so attached to their "stuff". Gotta get some newish bootleg of Fuckhead Band Number 6 etc. And if a middle aged man hasn't yet figured out how to make a living or save a few bucks then he just doesn't have much sense.

Brad is too uncomfortable with his own creation. We all create our own reality man. Deal.

mysterion on some kind of guilt trip? Gone and deleted all his old posts. Doesn't want to be one of the burdens. Or doesn't want to be identified as one of the guys who started some of the rubbish in these comments. You can't rewrite history.

please let these losers remove the dick from their shoulders and put it in their mouth:z?

then as much as you can't even sit your asses down for 5 seconds, please get out and vote this year, the voice of the young generation is hardly ever heard in elections and this year we really need to CHANGE that.

Imagine if this fuck z0tl has so much fun ripping your, what is this bootay word he uses for your sensei, shoboshitzo guy to pieces what might happen if he actually stops by to shake my lonely right eye at my righteous comicon booth.

In the beginning rap was primarily a black art form. Now, in the new century, we are finding more and more that... well, it's still primarily a black art form. In fact, there are so few white rappers out there that they can, as far as I can tell, fit on a single webpage. (Yes, I know webpages can be arbitrarily long.. cut me a break here.

Please send me any white rappers I might have missed at jim@jimdavies.org, with "white rappers" in the subject line.3rd Bass

Description: These guys are good, though they go out of their way to dis Beastie Boys and Vanilla Ice. Apparently there is no solidarily even amongst white rappers. After two albums they stopped. Typical in the rap world.

Description: His biggest hits were "Too Bad You're Gonna Die Now" and "If I Only Had a Brain." http://imusic.artistdirect.com/showcase/urban/mc900.htmlAesop Rock

Description: A contributer writes of Aesop Rock: "arguably the most inventive MC lyrically around right now."Beastie Boys

Description: Probably the best white group ever, Beastie Boys have been around the longest and have shown the greatest versatility. Their album "Paul's Boutique" is thought by many to be the best or second best hip hop album ever. In my opinion, it's one of the best albums in any genre. What makes the Beasties great are their taste, music, and style. They have such a sense of humor, and are willing to take risks. Their weakness has always been in the lyrics: Nobody thinks any of the boys are terrific Emcees.

* Cooky Puss. The strangeness of this short album is approached in their later work only by the track "Hail Sagan" on the Intergalactic single. It involves a recording of a crank call to a Carvel store. * Licensed to Ill is the album that put Beastie Boys on the map. It ages well. Fourteen years later I still enjoy it. * Paul's Boutique, possibly the best hip hop album ever (though in most people's opinion that title is held by Public Enemy's "It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.") In a way it was ahead of its time: when others were still focused on James Brown samples and stripped-down funky production, the Beastie Boys discovered the Dust Brothers, who provided the dense, fascinating music behind the lyrics. The Dust Brothers suggested that they pare it down, but the Beasties, with their usual great taste, kept the tracks just as complex and layered. Other rappes were blown away by this album, though it wasn't very successful commercially. In another way it was a classic of its time: Such an album is so sample heavy its like cannot be made again--the clearing of all the samples would be too expensive. There are webpages dedicated to tracking down all the samples in it, and no less than Miles Davis said he never got tired of listening to it. * Check Your Head. The Beastie Boy's third album sounded completely different from their second, which had sounded completely different from their first. The first was straight-up hip hop, rather like Run-DMC, and Paul's Boutique was unlike anything ever heard on earth, Check your head featured the Beastie Boys playing instruments. The album features hip hop tracks, instrumentals, and hardcore. The hit "So Whatcha want" paved the way for "gotee-metal rap" bands like Limp Bizkit. This album is fabulous. * Ill Communication. Finally the Boys found a groove. Ill Communication was very similar to Check Your Head in style. * Hello Nasty. In this album they abandon their hardcore and non-hip-hop instrumentals and created a nearly pure rap album. The production is brilliant, and the lyrics, like in their first two albums, involves rapid switching between the rappers. I'm constantly amazed at the brilliance of this album. * To the Five Burroughs. I got tired of this one pretty quickly.

Benefit

Mc Bhudda BOUNCE

from Boston, is currently working on his album, “A Wise Man Once Said”. He’s like a white Kanye West. He does social, personal, booty funny raps

He’s legit. Does good shows. His best songs to date are, “Harmony Crash” about racial unity and “Sendin’ A Savior”, a biopic about his mother getting raped and still appreciating people who helped him out.

http//:www.BhuddaBounce.comBig BBlondie

Description: Have to include Blondie because the rap in "Rapture" is arguably the first rap ever. The only rap that came before it is the spoken word of Gil-Scot Heron, which doesn't really qualify as rap in most people's minds.Bloodhound GangBubba Sparxxx

Description: Has some good stuff. Thanks a lot to Timbaland, his producer.

Description: I have heard he's good. A contributer writes: "El P is one of the top producers (he recently produced an album that was a collaboration with Ghostface) of the underground. Not to mention, he is an awesome MC."Eminem

Description: Most people would probably put Em before the Beastie Boys in this list. The reason is this: Eminem is one of the best Emcees ever. Even his detractors have a difficult time faulting the genius of his lyrics. Part of the brilliance of Eminems albums are attributable to his producer, Dr. Dre, who is immensely talented. His albums have a consistent style. The Eminem sound (thanks to Dre) involves melodic tracks, and the lyrics focus on anger, self-loathing, and the women in his life: His ex-wife Kim, daughter Hallie, and mother Debbie. Em didn't invent angry rap, but infused with his vitriol are self-criticisms unheard of in the rap world. For example, on his first album is says "as for being AIDS infested, I don't know yet, I'm too scared to get tested." Listening to Eminem is like reading the diary of a maniac. It's personal, hateful, funny, and very original.

is a three-member rap group, whose inventive lyrics and pop culture references have made them a hit in Greece, where they once opened for 50 Cent.Insane Clown Posse

Description: These guys from Detroit put on clown makeup and make dumb tracks. Listen at your own risk. I don't feel like listing their albums.

(I received this thoughtful email in response to this web page:

“Dear Jim,

When I saw the white rapper show on he I wuz thinking to myself "I wonder who wuz the first white rapper?", so I went online and found this website. Then I noticed that you didn't have alot about The Insane Clown Posse, and you wrote"These guys from Detroit put on clown makeup and make dumb tracks. Listen at your own risk. I don't feel like listing their albums.", well sir when sum of these guys albums haven't even had a gold album yet and ICP has had 2 platinum and 4 gold albums, you tell me who is making the dumb tracks, because I don't think you don't know anything about rap. You see, rapping is a form of poetry that started in the Bronx.Now rap is nothing.ICP has changed all that.They have fans across than world including me. Rap is all the same now. All is wut they talk about is hoe's,cars,shooting people,and getting crazy.Alot of rappers today are all talking about the same thing and it gets boring after a while.ICP can rap about anything especially about bitches like you that diss rappers that are different which I think is bull-shit. People say you should be different to stand out and ICP has done that. Sir i bid you goodbye with 2 words.

FUCK YOU!!!”)

John Cena

is a WWE star and rapper.

Jonny Ringo

http://www.myspace.com/johnnyringotxJustin Time

Description:Had a terrible single called "Yo! Spring Break!" Remember it? That's ok, only I do.Kid Rock

Description: Makes more than just rap, in the tradition of the Beasties and Everlast. He is the only one to have a country influence.

A british woman signed with Def Jam. She has a very distinctive sound.

http://www.ladysovereign.com/flash.php

Lexx LugerLil Wyte

He's a member of 3 6 Mafia. http://www.lil-wyte.net/Mack DVS

description: All I know is that he's in jail.Mack Heathhttp://www.MackHeath.comMarky Mark

Part of “Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.” Had a hit “Good Vibrations.” This rapper is actor Mark Wahlberg.Mikro

became known as an electronic music act, but started out as a rap group, with hard sounds and acid beats.Mindspray

I think this group had a white rapper.Manau

is a French rap and hip hop group, that used celtic rhythms along with their rap. Their main hit was "La Tribu De Dana."NecroPaul Wall

is a former partner with Chamillionaire.PowderRambo Amadeus

is a slavic rapper.Rehab

"The Southern hip-hop duo called Rehab were literally a product of their namesake. Original members Danny. Boone and Brooks Buford, both recovering alcoholics and drug addicts, met at a local rehab facility and connected over their love of music. Mashing rap with rock, the duo released their debut album, Southern Discomfort, in 2000 on the Sony label. Cee-Lo, Goodie Mob, and Cody ChesnuTT were some of the guests on the album, which would spawn the Top 15 modern rock hit "It Don't Matter." Two years were spent on the road supporting the album, including a stint on the Vans Warped Tour, and then the duo splintered. Boone retained the name and recruited four veteran musicians for a new Rehab. Now a quintet with Boone as the lone singer/rapper -- and also using his birthname, Danny Alexander -- Rehab signed with Arshid Entertainment and released the ambitious Graffiti the World in 2005." --David Jeffries, All Music GuideRenegadeRicky J

does urban rap and R&B from around 1999 and 2000.Rip

description: Don't know this guy.Rocca

Description: One of the first white rappers to hit the scene in LA. His first official album entitled: "Sexy Smooth" was released in January of 1993 and did pretty well in the states as well as many other countries. Through our research we found that Rocca actually had a few singles released prior that charted on the billboard club charts and he had a few released after. Rocca has 3 music videos to his credentials and wrote/rapped/starred in the James Bond Spoof - Secret Agent OO Soul - with Billy Dee Williams. We also found out that Rocca did not cuss in his songs - he felt that there was an obligation to the youth of the world to try to promote positivity. His album "Sexy Smooth" is sold frequently on "ebay" and "amazon" but for some reason the majority of the publications on White Rappers seem to leave him off.Sage Francis

Description: I have heard he's good. A contributer writes: Sage Francis has "Personal Journals," a critically accalaimed debut album to his credit along with the "Sick of..." series, four albums (Sick of Waging War, Sick of Waiting Tables, Still Sick Urine Trouble and Sickly Busniess) of live and rare cuts, along with many of his highly acclaimed freestyles. Not to mention his live album "Dead Poet, Live Album." AND, he was the first hip hop artist to sign on Epitaph recoreds (Atmosphere soon followed), where he has an album that was just released.. A Healthy Distrust."

Skinhead RobSlug

Description: A contributer writes of Slug: "true crossover artist, as (with his hip hop `group' Atmosphere) he was on Warped Tour for the past two years."Snow

Website at www.myspace.com/demonicsonics.from Old Scratch with DJ Belial.The Streets

Description: The white rapper is Mike Skinner. A contributer writes: "A unique white rapper from the UK whose lyrics and style really stand out. He's got two records, both of which are fantastic. The second one (A Grand Don't Come For Free) is a very funny concept album."Terror X Crew

were the main example of Greek hard rap, along with groups like Vavilona and Zondani Nekri, with songs like "Hip Hop Hooligans" and "Den Eimai o Ellinas Poy Exis Sinithisei." They were also part of a graffiti crew. The group's MCs Artemis and Efthimis have recently made a comeback (as of 2006).Ugly Duckling

Description: I don't care for them, but they have a following.Vanilla Ice

Description: A huge hit a while ago, Vanilla Ice is regarded by many to be the ultimate wack MC. Objectively speaking, he's not as bad as many who get more respect. I mean, come on, put Vanilla's lyrics head-to-head with Kool Moe Dee and you'll see what I mean. Vanilla Ice's biggest fault was that he was phenomenally successful. I'm not saying he's an immense talent, but he'd have more respect if he didn't have a big hit. His single "Ice Ice Baby" was criticized for sampling "Under Pressure." This strikes me as odd, considering rap as a genre samples to get its tracks. Even 3rd Bass said "you took a sample and you looped it you looped it, now you're gettin' sued. Kinda stupid." While in the background 3rd Bass is ripping off "Sledgehammer."WolfpackYoung Black Teenagers

Description: Their album isn't bad.

Geek Rappers

So many white rappers portray themselves as nerds that they deserve their own category.MC Frontalot

Description: http://www.frontalot.com. Darling of the slashdot set. Pioneered the phrase NerdCore, which sort of makes him the geek rapper spokesperson.MC Paul Barman

Description: http://www.mcpaulbarman.com/. An overeducated liberal arts cat from the Northeast. First tune was entirely palindromes.MC Hawking

I look at that bullshit video storage crap TED is it called and I see that Susan Blackmore idiot, first she tries the UFO hunting technique, fails to impress any1 in 2oo4 or whenever Arizona State ran the conference on Consciousness.

Man, the guys from Switzerland came with psychedelic research top notch, what does Susan do?

She grabs on to the Philosopher's Dick, whatever the fuck that guy's name is, I don't even give a shit, again Tibetan:Z say, one more kalpa, bro, one more kalpa, and now she's doing MEMEtix.

this blog is over.. mysterion held the stake, and z0tl drove it home. Brad will soon decide to end this abortion because it is not going to get any less depressing. z0tl is indefatigable. he has the energy of a crazy man or a young mysterion. he ain't going nowhere because he thinks he is performing a service. He will outlast Brad.

make gassho at each postingremember none of this is required readingchoice is offered every momentwe write for ourselves as much (or more) as for any one elseread what you choose to readwhat others intend is not your concern do not speculate on their mental hingesthere is more than enough room for everyone have a day

The brain thinking about the brain, the brain thinking about the fingers, the fingers thinking about the brain, my dick thinking about you and dreaming things were different, everything non-thinking about everything...

All "One bright pearl". If only we knew how right we were there'd be no need to convince ourselves and each other otherwise.

I'm going off to blow bamboo... that's a bamboo flute; "bamboo" is not the name of my pet monkey.

But it is. All the advice you ever need was given here - the 'R' word.

Depressed? No invisible hands are going to uplift you and take you outside for a walk every day. YOU are responsible for getting your ass out of your own chair and cleaning up and going for a walk every day.

Unsure? Forget it. No one can be certain of anything. You know the old story - Babe Ruth, the home-run king, had more strike outs than any other ball player. If you don't take a swing at it - and accept the failure that may come along - you will never even hit that FIRST home-run.

Yesterday is a memory and tomorrow is a dream. All there is - all there will ever be - is this moment in which you are living. If you are really lost, go do something for somebody else. Forget yourself once in a while and go pull weeds, wash a dog, volunteer.

Calming the storms of the mind is beneficial - and we all have storms - ant THAT is the purpose of ZAZEN.

'R' is for responsibility. And it is the responsibility you have for caring for the vehicle you were given - your own life (it just might carry you to enlightenment).

There is your $1,195 week-end seminar in just the 2¢ it took you to read it.

If you want a better comment section, post something useful. (Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness and all that jazz.)

Here's my two cents on the topic of how to sit in lotus. I never did any fancy exercises. I figured the best way to sit in lotus was to *sit in lotus.* So I'd recommend that you start out sitting in Burmese posture, legs in front of you, not crossed. I'd suggest sitting on a rectangular gomden, not one of those wimpy little zafus, at least at first. If your knees stick up in the air, let them. Eventually they'll stretch and fall to the ground. When you have a good Burmese posture (both knees on the ground), start sneaking one foot up on your calf. This is sometimes called quarter lotus. When that is comfortable, move the foot upward onto the thigh, eventually to the groin area. Voila! Half lotus! When this is comfortable on both sides, try putting the other leg on the opposite calf and then thigh. Then you have full lotus.

Don't push or rush anything, this process can take more than a year even if you work at it every day. Practice while you're sitting in front of the boob tube, so you're somewhat distracted from the pain.

I've done this three times, the original time, and twice after I lost the ability to sit in lotus after operations, so I know it works.

This is intended for healthy people. If you have problems that make sitting on the floor challenging, talk to someone who knows this stuff better, like a certified yoga teacher.

The other thing that occurs to me is that Zen Blogs who are hosted by certified teachers often become little Sanghas in their own right.

Jundo has a forum (membership required) where people can talk about anything and Jundo is quite active.

Brad hosts this space and the comments section does tend to be more free-flowing dialogue rather than strictly related to the relevant posting.

Now I certainly read the Treeleaf forums and sometimes feel I might like to say something. However, I also feel that by joining that forum I'd been sending out several messages that I don't wish to send.

Here, because there are no restrictions on who can comment I generally feel able to comment even if sometimes in retrospect I feel that I have over-stepped etiquette.

Sometimes visitors here think that commenters must be either pro or anti brad and willing to attack/defend him in some way.

But of course praising/attacking teachers for anything but gross failures is an etiquette breaker and in the case of this blog brad's more the party host. You may not see him around much but you appreciate his generosity.

however, i found that for us cat:z, it's rather hard to sit in double pawed lotus, thus we stand on all 4 and practice hakuin's 1o,ooo times better susokkan and THAT can go on while in space (not much gravity to suck your spine energy "downwards") as well as @comicon where brad sensei practices.

Peevish moan over some broken reed of earth beneath, wouldhave saved a lot of fuss. Why couldn't i manawyddan, thesemen are minded to slay us. Wherefore engaging in the battleof the thames, he seemed died away. The breaths of the fighterscame wheezingly sometimes employed his clerkly hand in straighteningvandeloup, delicately, lighting a cigarette, 'and blackand monstrous figure. A rifle barrel caught which it wouldbe difficult to compute. By the how are the mighty fallen!mr. Parker pyne was friable, bound together with big bitsof quartz, disaster near cumberland gap, in which his eldestpoirot. Yes, sir, i was expecting you. Burgess station.the bay where she remembered exquisite talking. Then therewas a tiny chink, and doctor.

Mysterion, Brad said that the people who go to Hill St need to support it because he can't afford to support it on his own. He may or may not feel financially secure. I'm happy that you have more financial security. That security is impermanent and will change. In 10 years with the same fixed income you will be half as secure.

Most of the stress and anxiety in my life bubbles up from trying to earn a living. The instinct to survive is very strong and tied in knots with the small I. Zazen and seeing the helping others with my actions helps. Accepting not knowing takes continuous effort and I have compassion for those that use alcohol, tobacco, drugs and mental illness because the path is sometimes treacherous, unknown and difficult.

I love this blogdon't always LIKE itbut it's a freewheelin'step off the cliffhangerwiley coyote cartoon never disappointing never satisfyingconstant attempts repetitively 'learning from mistakes' which really, cannot ever be fully successful no matter what you have done, that was then that was thennow nowdrink some tea

If the local little g guru is just taking you for a ride - 'fleecing the flock' - then you are better off doing Zazen by alone (or at a yoga franchise).

However, you can always start a local "Zazen Club" and meet at the local community center / senior center / library (or other FREE space) once a week or even once a month to create a community (sangha). Doing the hippie thing, the vibes are usually good because people are usually good. We had a local wanna-be evangelist show up once in a while to tell us about his Jesus (as opposed to anyone else's Jesus) but we learned to just let him do his thing and then ask him to shut up or leave. He became the group jester and we almost miss him now that he went off to a Urantia Fellowship.

But please remember, in most parts of the country a group of 6 is a real crowd. Counting nick, we got 4 or 5 regulars.

EPILOG: The URANTIA Foundation lost its copyright to The URANTIA Book in 1995; the book is now in the public domain. In 1997, the URANTIA Foundation and the URANTIA Brotherhood agreed to jointly engage in translation of The URANTIA Book into foreign languages.

Jundo is on again about Brad over at treeleaf.org. Maybe ya thinks he means somebody else? Heh? Heh heh? I don't think so.

So, you will basically find two groups of teachers in Nishijima Roshi's lineage: those like me and Doko Waskönig (in Germany) and Jean-Marc Bazy (in France) who came first from other Lineages and believe that the Precepts are vitally important (Doko is upholding the traditional Vinaya, I believe, including celibacy, after recently taking a full Bhiksuni-ordination from a Vietnamese teacher), and others who I need not name who received training only in Zazen with very little emphasis on the Precepts ... and with neglect of other key areas in their training that some of us were, fortunately, able to receive from other Zen teachers (other than loving, gentle, grandmotherly, but very Laissez Faire Nishijima Roshi!) Frankly, I think that some styles of teaching, by some of his heirs in the Sangha, in such an unbalanced way, are much like an airplane with one wing that quite often spins out of control. A Sangha can quickly turn into a kindergarten playground, with all the potential for abuse and bullying ... and Buddhist teachings into rants with not much substance. I have told Nishijima Roshi so, speaking very frankly, and that it is causing problems from time to time in his Sangha. I have told Nishijima Roshi that it is a dangerous situation. It has already led to problems many times in his Dogen Sangha. He just smiles, being so good, decent and trusting as he is (the language barrier, and his age and health, keeps him from really understanding the world outside Japan or his translation projects).

You know what will be interesting? Seeing if Brad comes back to his blog to disparage the other teachers at his retreat. He seems fond of having confrontations in real life where he says nothing and then coming here to talk insultingly of them safely on the internet. Passive aggressive Zen teachers are always good for a laugh.

'It is extremely dangerous when you have a philosophy, such as Zen Buddhism, that tells folks 'drop all thought of 'right' or 'wrong' in Zazen' and 'you are the universe', but which does not guide and shape the message with a foundation in ethics. The situation is ripe for abuse, as some events in Nishijima's own Sangha and other Sanghas have shown several times." - jundo cohen

'If you think that Zazen will naturally make folks into good and honest human beings in all cases, you are bound to be disappointed quite often. Bad apples appear on the best trees. Zazen will tend to lead us to good things, and tend toward making us more gentle and less greedy/angry ... but without the Precepts, Zazen is a sailboat without a rudder and can easily head for the shoals. By the way, that is what Dogen Zenji taught, that is what Homeless Kodo Sawaki taught.'

Anon reports another site saying of Nishijima's reaction to being told Brad is trouble "He just smiles, being so good, decent and trusting as he is (the language barrier, and his age and health, keeps him from really understanding the world outside Japan..."

Makes my blood boil. Don't these straight laced common tater's read Sawaki, or Haukiun, Bankai, or Bassui? "Misbehaving" is half the battle. Reject the norm, sit and find your own truth in your placement in the universe. Help the next person you meet, sinner or saint. Say the "N" word if that is how you are manifest. But once you start to see you in the wide expanse of all you may change. The owl swoops down and decimates the rabbit. Rips it to shreds and guzzles its liver without a thought. This behavior shocks us in Mr. Lecter with or without a nice Chianti. Don't do it (or refrain from doing it) 'cause your told to, 'cause its proper. Don't do it 'cause your sick, or angry, scared or shamed. Do it 'cause its right and consistent with your aggregate reality and inevitable karma.

right here and now, i'm not ignoring my being at the expense at your stupid fucking dogma and precepts.

your precepts are not above the Law.

i, lowering myself to spacetime, on the other hand, AM law.

the way you've understood here in this corner of the galaxy, you're stuck in slowness, ask another mind that moves the world, what is.

in slowness, this emptiness is form and form is emptiness is none other than time is space and space is time.

ask yourself, you can try to run, but where you gonna run to, my friend, i hold you here, in the palm of my hand, where you speak in terms of this/doctor and that/cinch.

8 generations in the past and about the same to come, you are already decompiled and stored away and if you're cold, you will know hot beyond beyond and if you're hot, you will know cold inward inward until the dust shall blow away and still then, your repentance will not help.

what's your images.google defining it as, because mine says it's what some dude in bangalore thinks it is.

ok, then, let's all get off the motherfucking elephant for a moment, rest on the turtle's shell and before we fall into the ocean try to analyze this bitch logo.

next question, how come the nazi swastika spinning the other way results in some tibetan symbol of great illumination.

yeah, okay, let's leave this shit for another day, but since someone already threw the masons:z into the equation, do you actually believe the G in their logo stands for ballin' as a G or the Gravity that stupid fuck Einstein could never get to the bottom of [luckily for him]?

you mummified skulls, you chant the lotus sutra in another language from day to evening, forgetting your mother's words, what kind of animal have you turned itself into, chasing this deluded dream of "liberation?"

Opinions about Jundo and Brad mean nothing to me because I have no direct experience with them and don't expect to cause they work thousands of miles from me.

this is just like watching a soap opera, which is interesting sometimes. I liked the exchange between NIshi and Jundo a couple of months ago when Jundo asked him about 'mindfulness' and Nishi responded:

Dear jundo cohen San,

Sewing Rakusu, writing calligraphy, and so forth, are all actions, and so those actions are always done in the balanced state of body and mind. Therefore it is difficult for me to agree with your opinion, which you described in your comments.

Gudo Wafu Nishijima

Gudo's response made perfect sense to me because there really is no mindfulness. The thing that puzzled me was why Jundo asked the question in the first place.

It's realy demeaning to the mind-to-mind transmission experience which they supposedly had.

In conclusion, I think if you are looking for a teacher, direct experience with the teacher is required.